random poll. bickering with DH.

My husband made a joke about L. Ron Hubbard. I said I didn't know who that was. He said "everyone knows who that is, its common knowledge". So do you know who he is. Please prove me DH wrong. I said a lot of people probably don't know him.

L. Ron HubbardHubbard in Los Angeles, 1950BornLafayette Ronald HubbardMarch 13, 1911Tilden, Nebraska, United StatesDiedJanuary 24, 1986 (aged 74)Creston, California, United StatesCause of deathStrokeNationalityAmericanEducationGeorge Washington University (dropped out in 1932)OccupationAuthor, religious leaderKnown forFounder of Scientology and its churchNotable work(s)Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental HealthBattlefield EarthNet worth>US$600 million[1]ReligionScientologyCriminal chargePetty theft (in 1948),Fraud (in absentia, 1978)Criminal penaltyFine of ₣35,000 and four years in prison (unserved)Spouse(s)Margaret "Polly" Grubb(1933–1947)Sara Northrup Hollister(1946–1951)Mary Sue Whipp (1952–1986)Children7:With Margaret Grubb:L. Ron Hubbard Jr.* (d. 1991)Katherine May Hubbard*With Sara HollisterAlexis Hubbard*WIth Mary Sue Whipp:Quentin Hubbard (d. 1976)Diana HubbardSuzette HubbardArthur Hubbard** Estranged From family.SignatureLafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986[2]), better known as L. Ron Hubbard (pron.: /ɛl rɒn ˈhʌˌbərd/, ell-ron-hub-ərd[3]) and often referred to by his initials, LRH, was an American pulp fiction author and the founder of the Church of Scientology. After establishing a career as a writer, becoming best known for his science fiction and fantasy stories, he developed a self-help system called Dianetics which was first published in May 1950. He subsequently developed his ideas into a wide-ranging set of doctrines and rituals as part of a new religious movementthat he called Scientology. His writings became the guiding texts for the Church of Scientology and a number of affiliated organizations that address such diverse topics as business administration, literacyand drug rehabilitation.Although many aspects of Hubbard's life story are disputed, there is general agreement about its basic outline.[4] Born inTilden, Nebraska, he spent much of his childhood in Helena, Montana. He traveled in Asia and the South Pacific in the late 1920s after his father, an officer in the United States Navy, was posted to the U.S. naval base on Guam. He attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C.at the start of the 1930s, before dropping out and beginning his career as a prolific writer of pulp fiction stories. He served briefly in the United States Marine CorpsReserve and was an officer in the United States Navy during World War II, briefly commanding two ships, the USS YP-422and USS PC-815. He was removed both times when his superiors found him incapable of command.[5] The last few months of his active service were spent in a hospital, being treated for a duodenal ulcer.[5]Later he developed Dianetics, "the modern science of mental health." He founded Scientology in 1952 and oversaw the growth of the Church of Scientology into a worldwide organization. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he spent much of his time at sea on his personal fleet of ships as "Commodore" of the Sea Organization, an elite inner group of Scientologists. His expedition came to an end when Britain, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Venezuela all closed their ports to his fleet. At one point, a court in Australia revoked the church's status as a religion. Similarly, a high court in France convicted Hubbard of fraud in absentia. He returned to the United States in 1975 and went into seclusion in the California desert. In 1983 L. Ron Hubbard was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an international information infiltration and theft project called "Operation Snow White." He spent the remaining years of his life on his ranch near Creston, California, where he died in 1986.The Church of Scientology describes Hubbard in hagiographic terms,[6] and he portrayed himself as a pioneering explorer, world traveler, and nuclear physicist with expertise in a wide range of disciplines, including photography, art, poetry, and philosophy. His critics have characterized him as a liar, a charlatan, and mentally unstable. Though many of his autobiographical statements have been proven to be fictitious,[7] the Church rejects any suggestion that its account of Hubbard's life is not historical fact